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Front Page

Jan. 11, 2002

Pompous Words Don't Belong in Legal Writing

Dicta Column - By Robert M. Unterberger, Were you ever admonished to stop using unnecessarily large or pretentious words in your legal writing, such as writing "motor vehicle" when "car" sufficed? One associate told me that his supervising partner edited his work by putting price tags on his words. For example, "imbibe" was worth $10, while "drink" was just a buck. "Employ" earned $8, while "use" cost 50 cents. The lower the price tag, the better the brief.

        Dicta Column
         
        By Robert M. Unterberger
        
        Were you ever admonished to stop using unnecessarily large or pretentious words in your legal writing, such as writing "motor vehicle" when "car...

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